IBM thinkpad 600(how good)

["justin joseph" <justinjoseph007@gmail.com>]

Hi,

I had prevously posted to this group with questions concerning
thinkpad pad T42 and based on the discussion had ordered it(in US, am
in India).  Unfortunately It will take a long time before I can get
it, around 8 more months.  So am planning to buy a second hand IBM
machine in India for that time period.  There is an IBM 600 series PII
400Mhz 192MB machine.  It would be helpfull if I can know about the
performance of these machines with say Debian Sarge.

I would need to compile a lot of code and do some scripting.  Also I
would need to read pdf files(I prefer evince) and use the
Internet(Firefox) and my Office LAN and the regular tools.. ssh telnet
ftp svn etc..Also Open Office once in a while.  Will this machine
serve my purpose for the time being. Am in India and the new IBM
machines Cost way over head here *they are not affordable* in India.
Will I be able to use a pcmcia card and get wireless LAN.  I know
GNU/Linux is portable but I have not worked on 400 Mhz machines.  My
Desktop is a PIII 866Mhz 256MB RAM and it takes around 20 minutes to
compile 2.6.15 kernel release.  How much will the TP600 take for this
task because this might give me a vague picture.

I did go around googling and on linux-laptops but they mostly talk
about Installation, My concern is of relevance of machine
specification with regards the work i mentioned.

Thanks
Justin